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The force continues to be strong with record breaking takings over the weekend

The force continues to be strong for the UK and Ireland with record breaking takings over the weekend for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film enjoyed not only the biggest opening day of all time but also the biggest 4 day opening weekend of all time. Star Wars:The Force Awakens has already taken a staggering £25.3 million in 3 days at the UK box office, with Sunday’s projected £7.5 million bringing the film’s cumulative weekend projection to a stratospheric £32. 8 million (including previews), cementing the release in the record books for the highest grossing 4 day opening weekend of all time, beating the current record set by JURASSIC WORLD. In the US, the film has taken an impressive $238 million domestically and $279 million internationally bringing the weekend global box office takings to an astounding $517 million worldwide.

Opening at midnight on Wednesday, fans flocked to cinemas to be the first to see the hugely anticipated next episode in the Star Wars saga which took £9.6 million on its opening day setting a new UK and Ireland industry record. Midnight screenings alone accounted for £2.4 million of the days box office smashing all previous records. Tickets for the highly anticipated film went on sale in October and sold more than 200,000 tickets in 24 hours. Exhibitors continually added screens to accommodate demand which resulted in a total of 2 million booked tickets ahead of the release – breaking another record for advanced ticket bookings. There are still many available seats left in cinemas across the UK for fans who want to see the film during the week and into next weekend.

Yesterday’s £8.6m takings were the biggest Saturday figure of all time in the UK and Ireland, beating the two current leading 3-day openers, SKYFALL and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS 2 at this stage in release. After just 3 days in the market the film has overtaken the entire lifetime totals of the first HUNGER GAMES, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, PROMETHEUS, THE MARTIAN, TRANSFORMERS and FAST & FURIOUS 6.